10.20.2005

Effort to kill Alaska highway pork fails

Sen. Thomas Coburn (R-OK) introduced an amendment to the Transportation bill today that would effectively kill the $230 million Alaska bridge to nowhere.

Unfortunately, the amendment failed with many senators fearing their own pork projects would be targeted if they yanked money from Sen. Ted Stevens' state. Stevens serves on and is a former chairman of the Appropriations Committee which decides which projects get funded. A total of 15 Senators voted for the amendment including Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.

I normally don't agree with Coburn on much of anything, but I applaud his effort to reduce wasteful spending. In an article in the Hill, Coburn is quoted on each party's approach to the budget.

Of the current debate over spending and the budget, he said, "Republican politicians are the same as Democratic politicians in that they like to spend money. Democrats want to raise taxes to pay for it, and Republicans allow the next generation to pay for it."